Hong Kong Market in New Orleans. VI - eat your heart out.

nolaegghead

This is the Hong Kong market I've mentioned in past posts.  Best and maybe only source locally for odd ingredients like "pig blood" without getting arrested.

The site used to be a Wally World before they moved. 

They have monster isles dedicated to, say, sauces. Fish sauce, fermented karate-chop sauce, stuff you didn't dream existed.

Sorry about the sideways pics.  My mac automatically flips 'em the right way and I'm too lazy to fix.  Turn your head or computer sideways for correct orientation.

The Jack fruit in the bin (last picture) are probably 10-20 pounds each.  I don't know how you're supposed to get them in your cart without an iron-maiden wound on your hands from the spikes.

R2Egg2Q

Looks like a well stocked place with a big selection but I'd have to pass on that bitter melon! Blech!

Richard Fl

They must be a franchise as there is one just like that in Orlando in an old Wally World.

nolaegghead

Must be, or at least a popular business model.  It's pure heaven for me.  The vegetables are super cheap and fresh compared to all the local chains and they carry a lot of local seafood, meat and produce.  After 'nam, generations of Vietnamese settled here in New Orleans and set up shop.  The weather and abundance of water (and subsequent fishing opportunities) suited their lifestyles from the Mekong delta region before all hell broke loose.  If you like Pho, you'll find some of the best in the country in the nola area.

Village Idiot

We also have a Hong Kong Market, but I don't go there.  I like 99 Ranch.  Very similar to HK, but it's the cleanest supermarket I've ever been to.  I got a slight whiff of something rotten at HK once, so I quit going.  I'm sure it was just an oddity, though.  The only thing I wish those stores would carry is Japanese items.  We have a dedicated Japanese grocery store in Houston, but it's inconvenient to go to.

Congrats on having a real Asian supermarket.  It's good to know that, no matter what strange ingredient is called for in a recipe, you know you can find it there.

Doc_Eggerton

Isn't the one in Orlando a similar market, but different name?  My main gripe is everything is restaurant sized.  I really don't need a quart of rooster hot sauce.

Hey VI, you're in Houston?  I used to live in Friendswood.

Village Idiot

Doc_Eggerton said:

Hey VI, you're in Houston?  I used to live in Friendswood.

Yep.  SW Houston.  Friendswood is a nice town.  Houston has engulfed it though, so you wouldn't know you're there if you didn't see a sign.

Doc_Eggerton

Village Idiot said:

Doc_Eggerton said:

Hey VI, you're in Houston?  I used to live in Friendswood.

Yep.  SW Houston.  Friendswood is a nice town.  Houston has engulfed it though, so you wouldn't know you're there if you didn't see a sign.

When I lived there you drove through miles of rice paddies to get to it, and we were friends with the kids on the other side of the fence behind our house.  You had to push their cows out of the way when you went visiting.  Oh, and they had burros as pets.  You think someone having chickens is noisy!

Village Idiot

Yeah, but it's not that way anymore.  That whole area started expanding when NASA came in.  Soon, it will be city all the way from Houston to Galveston.

Doc_Eggerton

Wow, are you bringing back memories.  Hanging chicken wings off a dock in Galveston and netting crabs.

Sorry for the minor hijack nola
^:)^

Village Idiot

Doc_Eggerton said:

Wow, are you bringing back memories.  Hanging chicken wings off a dock in Galveston and netting crabs.

Sorry for the minor hijack nola
^:)^

I've done that many times, off the jetties.

nolaegghead

Doc_Eggerton said:

Wow, are you bringing back memories.  Hanging chicken wings off a dock in Galveston and netting crabs.

Sorry for the minor hijack nola
^:)^

You're welcome to hijack anytime.

I recall having to commute to Clearlake about every other week for about a year from nola when we had lab there.  Lots o good times and good people.  That was a long time ago.

Richard Fl

Doc_Eggerton said:

Isn't the one in Orlando a similar market, but different name?  My main gripe is everything is restaurant sized.  I really don't need a quart of rooster hot sauce.


The one on west 50,Pinehills is a great shop.  Also downtown 50 across from the Publix on the se corner is a Siagon market with lots of goodies and then further east on 50 a few miles is another large store.

Lit

In Georgia we have Super H Mart. You can pick out your live fish and they clean it while you shop. Pretty sure they only have a couple kinds of live fish but their meat market has some interesting things snake river farms Wagyu meat and sashimi grade tuna and salmon at about half the price of whole foods. Their produce section is like a 3rd of the store and its a pretty big store. They also have several stands set up in the store to buy authentic food from while you shop.

MikeG

Wish we had one that big here in Salt Lake City.  We do have some smaller asian markets which I shop at all the time.  We also have a chain of largish Mexican markets here which is also good for inexpensive produce.

Kind of ruins you for the produce aisle at the grocery store though.  

Skiddymarker

Village Idiot said:

We also have a Hong Kong Market, but I don't go there.  I like 99 Ranch.  Very similar to HK, but it's the cleanest supermarket I've ever been to.  I got a slight whiff of something rotten at HK once, so I quit going.  I'm sure it was just an oddity, though.  The only thing I wish those stores would carry is Japanese items.

Nola has a new place to shop!

We have a chain called T&T Supermarkets, carry all things asian, good selection of Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Thai etc.. Little Steven might know about the stores in Ontario, here in BC we have quite a few to choose from.

Like VI, noticed that some of the stores have an uncomfortable odor, others are fine. The veggies are, IMHO, not the strong point of our stores, probably because they are not grown locally. 

They have the biggest carrots I've ever seen, look like a horse's leg. Also great collection of Nori for sushi. 

We have a mandarin speaking friend that likes to shop with us, she helps us at T&T we help her at Costco and Safeway. Great when cultures get along. 

nolaegghead

The Hong Kong market, on good days, doesn't, uh, smell pleasant.  I'll just say it smells authentic.  After Katrina just about every grocery store after weeks of rotting food, stank, despite the best cleanup efforts.  Took a good year before the rotting meat smell dissipated.  I'm sure part of it was psychosomatic. 

The Hong Kong market was worst than most.  I guess having a giant wall of fish tanks didn't help.  Despite the horror-show that was universal in all our grocery markets, we got over it, with slightly stronger stomachs. 

It's a treat to shop there.  I try something new every time.  This weekend I bought some dragon fruit.  Delicious.